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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25060834">Christmas Decisions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/huffinglepuff/pseuds/huffinglepuff'>huffinglepuff</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst and Feels, Christmas, Decidedly not canon, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), References to Child Abuse, Some suicidal thoughts, i dont even think the ages are right, like barely any of this is canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:15:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,273</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25060834</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/huffinglepuff/pseuds/huffinglepuff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jegulus fic based off the prompt “Don’t say you love me!” from prideful-slytherin on tumblr.</p><p>Regulus is supposed to take the dark mark during the Christmas break; nobody is happy about it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Regulus Black/James Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>295</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Christmas Decisions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I’ve been posting this on my tumblr and instagram, but I also like to have my longer (read: over 4K) fics on here as well :)</p><p>Please don’t judge the name, I know it’s terrible.</p><p>Thank you to defectivetalos for editing &lt;3</p><p>TWs: some suicidal thoughts, mentions of child abuse.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“James, don’t—”</p><p>“Don’t <em> what </em> , Regulus?” Regulus flinched at the use of his full name; <em>nobody</em> used his full name, aside from the death eaters. Never James. To James, he’d always been ‘Reggie’, even before they started dating — and even though it started as a joke, Regulus had grown used to the nickname. To hear his full name come out of James’ mouth…it was like a slap across the face.</p><p>“I don’t get a choice in this. My mum, my house…I wouldn’t <em>survive</em> if I didn’t.”</p><p>“You could come and live with me and Padfoot. That’s a <em>choice</em> you get; Sirius did it.”</p><p>“But then I’d get disowned…” Regulus trailed off, his argument sounding weak even to his own ears.</p><p>“It probably isn’t fair to compare you to a Gryffindor, but Sirius risked <em>all</em> of that.”</p><p>“And my house? My friends?”</p><p>James sighed. “It certainly isn’t fair to ask you to leave them; certainly not just for <em>me</em>. I don’t know <em>what</em> I thought.” He turned, head held low, and started to walk away.</p><p>“James, it’s not — I can’t — I <em>love</em>—”</p><p>“Don’t say you <em>love</em> me.” James abruptly spun around, his eyes burning with fury, tears trailing down his face. “It’s not fair. You can’t say you <em>love</em> me and then go off and do <em>that</em>.” His gaze flickered down to Regulus’ left arm for a second. “I can’t even <em>look</em> at you.”</p><p>“James…” Regulus whispered, his throat closing up as he looked at the man he loved — because he <em>did</em> love him — walk away. Only when that messy mop of black hair had disappeared from sight did Regulus sink to his knees, collapsing against the cool stone of the astronomy tower.</p><p>After an hour — or a minute — Regulus heard someone sit next to him on the floor.</p><p>“Not considering pitching ourselves off the tower, are we, Reg?’</p><p>“Maybe,” Regulus curled up a little more, not wanting to face his brother.</p><p>“It can’t be <em>that</em> bad — what happened?” Regulus felt an arm snake around his shoulders, and wanted nothing more than to throw it off; he didn’t want to feel Sirius’ reaction when he told him. </p><p>“They want me to take the dark mark,” Regulus murmured, so quietly that Sirius didn’t hear him.</p><p>“Come on, a little louder — I don’t have the hearing of a werewolf, y’know.”</p><p>“<em>They want me to take the dark mark</em>,” he repeated, “This Christmas.” Regulus’ shoulders shook with sobs as he felt the arm around him tense, and then relax.</p><p>“Well. You clearly don’t <em>want</em> to do it, so just come live with me and James. Mr. and Mrs. Potter said there’s always a place for you—”</p><p>“I <em>can’t</em>. My house would murder me, and if they don’t, then <em>mum</em> would kill me and then herself.”</p><p>“Well mother dear is a bitch, so no issues there. And just sleep in James’ bed — I know you two are shagging.”</p><p>“You <em>know</em>?”</p><p>Sirius scoffed. “What <em>else</em> would you be doing in a broom closet?”</p><p>Regulus wanted to laugh, but instead he turned to face his brother — and regretted it immediately. Though his face was lined with worry and concern, his grey eyes shone with hope.</p><p>Regulus held Sirius’ gaze for one second, then two — enough for Sirius to see the finality in Regulus’ eyes. Regulus wanted to weep, to run away as he saw the hope flicker, and diminish, and finally vanish as he said “I’m taking it. I have to.”</p><p>Sirius stood abruptly, looking down at Regulus coldly. “And here I was thinking you had a bit of courage, a bit of <em>good</em> in you. I’ll make sure not to make such assumptions in the future.” Sirius turned on his heel, walking away with his head held high. </p><p>Regulus curled in on himself, folding up his emotions, his thoughts, and placing them in a small box at the back of his mind. He wiped his eyes and stood, the wind whipping through his hair as he approached the edge of the tower. Only a low railing stood between him and imminent death. Just one small jump…if he leaned a <em>little</em> more… </p><p>Nobody would miss him anyway.</p><p>He leaned a little further forward, winter wind whistling in his ears, whispering to him to <em>jump</em> — no, he couldn’t. He was too cowardly to take his life... <em> rid of another death eater. </em>He sighed, closing his eyes as he let his familiar mask slide into place, his expression becoming cold and emotionless.  All signs of tears vanished with a flick of his wand, before making his way down to the dungeons.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em> I’m sorry, James. </em>
</p><p>Sirius gritted his teeth, storming down the stairs from the astronomy tower. He’d genuinely thought James had stormed away without hearing Regulus out — despite how much they loved each other, both were prone to storming off without hearing out the other side.</p><p>Determinedly holding back his tears, he stormed up to the Gryffindor common room, shoving various people out the way. He couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t <em> see </em> anything; his baby brother was selling himself out to the <em>death eaters</em>, and Sirius wasn’t there to protect him. After <em>years</em> of protecting him from Walburga’s temper, taking beatings and <em>crucios</em> and lashings, he couldn’t help where it counted. </p><p>When Sirus finally came to his senses, he was safe in Remus’ arms, Remus’ long arms wrapped around him, his fists clenching Remus’ chunky-knit jumper, Remus gently mumbling in his soft, welsh accent.</p><p>“There, there, Pads, it’s okay.” Remus gently rocked back and forth.</p><p>“It’s not. It’s <em>not</em>, Moons, my baby brother is taking the dark mark and I can’t help him this time, and it’s all <em>my</em> fault, I left him when he needed me—”</p><p>“Pads, that’s his own choice. You can’t choose for him, no matter how much you want to.”</p><p>“But I <em>want</em> to, Rem. I can’t <em>leave</em> him again…”</p><p>“Shh, shh, Pads, it’s not your fault.”</p><p>Sirius took a great, shuddering breath and finally melted into Remus’ arms, one arm gently rubbing circles into his back, another threading through his hair, gently pulling on the strands.</p><p>After a while, he shot backwards, falling off the bed and almost punching Remus in the face. “Where’s James?”</p><p>Remus frowned. “He went down to the quidditch pitch after you went running off…”</p><p>Both of their heads turned to look at the window, revealing a pitch–black night sky.</p><p>Sirius sighed, before rummaging through James’ trunk. “At least he left this.” Remus smiled in relief at the sight of the invisibility cloak.</p>
<hr/><p>At first, James was absolutely <em>furious</em>.</p><p>He’d stormed down to the common room, ready to shout and rant and rage to Sirius — who would get it, since Reggie — <em>Regulus</em> — was his brother — but he’d immediately ran off after James had confirmed that he was in the astronomy tower.</p><p>Remus had raised and eyebrow, but James knew that he wouldn’t <em>get</em> it — no matter how much he loved Remus, he was one for providing logical solutions, which really wasn’t what James needed right now.</p><p>“I’m going flying.” Remus nodded as if he knew — maybe he <em>did</em> — and with that, James hurried down to the quidditch pitch, seeing with satisfaction that the Hufflepuff team was just coming off, and everyone was leaving the stands.</p><p>He’d mounted his broomstick and kicked off, flying higher and higher until the quidditch pitch was a mere speck in the distance. He’d relished the bite of the wind, the moisture of the clouds clinging to his skin, cooling his anger. Up in the clouds, he let the tears run free, his anger draining away until only the hurt was left — nothing but pain that caused him to feel weary and his chest to ache. </p><p>He shouldn’t have expected Regulus to listen to him, really; he wasn’t family, like Sirius, nor was he Slytherin. Had Regulus been lying all this time? Did he ever <em> really </em> care about him?</p><p>He thought back to when things were good. At first, it had been stolen, passionate moments — a hurried kiss when they were the last two in the locker room, a hurried fumble in the closet. Then, Sirius and Remus had walked in while they doing <em>their</em> thing, which had been...awkward. After, that, they came out to the rest of the school, and James had adored the look that sparked in Regulus’ eye, as he looked at him from the Slytherin table, or across the quidditch pitch; the warmth in his uncontained grin, when he’d finally removed his mask; the small, secret smiles, just for him. </p><p>
  <em> Was any of that even real? </em>
</p><p>He didn’t know how long he was in the air, but he eventually noticed the silvery glow of Sirius’ patronus — a wolf — beside him. “Get your arse down here right now, it’s pitch black.”</p><p>As the patronus disappeared, he finally noticed that he was, in fact, hovering in an eerie darkness, not even a star in sight. He sighed and flew downwards, gently spiralling as his limbs turned to jelly, focused on the two <em>lumoses</em> below.</p><p>“What have you gotten yourself into, Prongs,” Sirius murmured, while Remus cast a warming charm on him. “Come on, shrink your broom and get under the cloak.”</p><p>James sighed and obeyed robotically, feeling rather numb, but it wasn’t from the cold. </p><p>For the next week, he was noticeably reserved; he spent his meals staring at the Slytherin table, not eating; his lessons were spent daydreaming about dark hair, nimble fingers, and green robes; his nights were sleepless, as he stared at the canopy above him, wishing it was  green, if only to be nearer.</p><p>The guilt might have hurt, if it wasn’t for the emptiness.</p>
<hr/><p>Regulus hadn’t had a good couple of weeks.</p><p>Being the coward he was, he only left his dorm for lessons and the occasional nighttime trip to the kitchens a disillusionment charm. If he saw James, or Sirius…he didn’t know what he’d do. Cry, probably. He’d had enough of crying.</p><p>He’d ridden the train with the Slytherins — Barty, Mulciber, and Snape. Barty was a complete psychopath; he performed the cruciatus on a beetle just because it was <em>there</em>. Mulciber didn’t have many brains, but tended to egg on Barty, and roughhouse any and all students below third year, regardless of their house. And Snape… </p><p>Snape had an unhealthy obsession with the Marauders — everyone knew that — but he talked about them <em>constantly</em>, now that Evans had ditched him. Regulus couldn’t blame her, in all honesty; after spending years watching Snape openly use racist slurs, he was surprised she’d tolerated him for as long as she did. He was extremely unpleasant to be around now (not that he’d been pleasant before; but at least he’d been <em>tolerable</em>), and the only topic he seemed interested in talking about was insulting the Marauders. </p><p>Snape’s favourite Marauder to insult was James. Regulus didn’t know why he expected any different — it was just his luck. He tended to tune it out, and he did so on the train, watching the countryside pass while thinking about messy, dark hair, and warm, brown eyes. </p><p>He’d apparated to the House from the platform, quickly hurrying upstairs. His mum had been getting increasingly unhinged since Sirius had left, and this had resulted in her taking <em>everything</em> out on Regulus. He hadn’t realised how much his brother had done for him until he’d left.</p><p>After the third beating, he’d retreated to his room, staring at the green and silver walls and hating them. He’d considered going into Sirius’ room more than once, to feel closer to him — to James. He regretted coming home every day; but what else was he supposed to do?</p><p>He’d even written a few letters; asking for for a place to live, apologising, saying<em> ‘I love you’</em> one last time. He incinerated all of them, but it was nice to think what would happen if he sent one. James would turn up at the door, whisk him away. He’d be able to <em>leave</em>. Be <em>free</em>. But those were just dreams.</p>
<hr/><p>“Come on James, <em>buck</em> up,” Peter giggled, “It’s practically Christmas!”</p><p>“Peter, just…leave it..” Sirius rested a hand on Peter’s shoulder, shaking his head slightly.</p><p>“It’s alright, he can be excited, I’m just going to…sit here.” James settled in the corner of their compartment and rested his head on the wall, gazing out of the window at fields covered with a sprinkling of frost, not really seeing any of it. not really hearing the quiet, worried murmurs of his friends behind him.</p><p>He didn’t want to worry them; rather, he wanted to tell them he was okay, that there was nothing to worry about. But he knew that his eyes looked listless, hollow; his tone of voice was flat, no matter how much emotion he tried to inject into it.</p><p>He was just so <em>tired</em>.</p><p>At some point, they reached his parents house. He might have broken down in his mother’s arms, he might have pushed down his emotions and gone to his room. He didn’t know, nor did he care.</p><p>During the day, he went out with the Marauders — Remus was with them until Boxing Day, and Peter just lived down the road. They played quidditch, wandered around the village; normal things, but James just felt like an outsider, looking in on the life he should be living.</p><p>James blinked, lost in a sea of guilt, and suddenly it was Christmas Eve, with the Marauders sitting around the fireplace. Peter was lying on his front, eating chocolate, and Sirius was draped across Remus’ lap. The sun was just about to touch the horizon, casting golden rays across the room. It would have been peaceful had James not been feeling so antsy, like he needed to <em> move</em>.</p><p>“I’m going for a walk,” he announced, jumping to his feet. The three boys groaned. “You don’t have to come, I’ll be fine.”</p><p>“You sure, Prongs?” Peter looked ready to lay back down.</p><p>“Yep. Be back in twenty.”</p><p>It wasn’t long before the cold air left him shivering. He was wearing a hoodie, but it did nothing to stop the bitter cold. He wandered down the street, not quite sure where he was going.</p><p>The little houses looked like something out of a Christmas card, with their colourful, muggle lights and the layer of snow dusting the roofs. He let his mind wander, and now that he was alone, he didn’t have to keep his eyes from watering.</p><p>He rounded a corner and abruptly stopped, surprised to see another person out in the cold. It took him a moment to realize who stood before him, and when he did, the tears finally spilled over.</p>
<hr/><p>“So are you looking forward to tomorrow, Regulus?”</p><p>Regulus blinked. <em>Right</em>, he was at the dining table, and tomorrow was Christmas. “Yes, mother.”</p><p>“I’m so excited for you to finally be a proper death eater. Of course, you’ll have to finish your Hogwarts education, but what’s a year in the grand scheme of things? You’ll be in the best place possible once the Dark Lord has won and wiped out all those filthy Mudbloods and Blood-Traitors.”</p><p>“Yes, mother.” Regulus took another bite of the food on his place — something French, but it tasted like sawdust — and tried to keep the disgust off his face.</p><p>“You don’t sound very excited. Not having <em>second thoughts</em>, are you?”</p><p><em>Yes</em>. “No, of course not, mother. Just a bit tired, is all.”</p><p>“You should have an early night then. Big day tomorrow.” Regulus forced a small smile onto his face, not showing how disturbed he was by the enthusiasm his mother was displaying. She hadn’t been this happy since…well, she’d <em>never</em> been this happy.</p><p>Regulus excused himself and walked up the stairs at a deliberately slow pace, erecting silencing charms around the bathroom before throwing up his meager dinner into the toilet. He knew, there and then, that he couldn’t go through this. No matter how cowardly he was, this <em>would</em> kill him.</p><p>He quickly packed everything he actually <em>wanted</em> — surprisingly not that much, since most of his belongings were for fancy pureblood events, which he would <em>not</em> be attending to if he was truly leaving — and shouldered his bag, sprinting out of the door even as his mother screeched about the racket he was making.</p><p>On the street outside of his house, he realised he had nowhere to go. Not a Slytherin household; they’d send him straight back. He didn’t actually <em>have</em> any friends, he quickly realised as he ducked into an alley; just acquaintances, contacts for his future. Nowhere to go. He had <em>not</em> thought this through, even if he was still better off than he would be <em>inside</em> the house.</p><p>He leaned against the dingy wall, listening to the roar of the traffic, wrinkling his nose as the pungent odour of alcohol wafted past.</p><p>The source — a middle–aged man — turned into the alley. </p><p>“What’re you doin’ here? Bit youn’ t’be ou’ ‘ere.”</p><p>“I’ll just be on my way,” Regulus replied, taking a step towards the opening of the alley, but the man sidestepped, blocking his path.</p><p>“A pre’y boy like you shoul’n’t be ou’ in a place like this, should ‘e?”</p><p>Regulus grimaced, and then rolled his eyes. He was a <em>wizard</em> — he didn’t have to put up with this. He ducked around the man and apparated to the first place that came to mind; the village where Sirius had said James’ parents lived.</p><p>Heregretted his decision as soon as he saw the rows of houses. There was a peaceful silence hanging around the village. He shouldn’t be here, interrupting. Bringing his problems. </p><p>He looked around, and, not seeing anyone, settled into a gap between two buildings. He put up some notice-me-not wards — reasonably strong, enough to repel anyone who wasn’t looking for him — and a warming charm. He knew that no one would come looking for him here, and even if they did, he wasn’t planning on sleeping. He put up a warming charm, and began to try and figure out what he was going to do next. He had money with him; he really should have apparated somewhere with an inn, but apparently his brain hadn’t had much choice in where he apparated. Even if he <em>did</em> want to go see James — if James and Sirius wanted to see <em>him</em> — he had no idea where they were. There were loads of houses here; he certainly couldn’t just go door to door, looking for them.</p><p>It was still early; the sun was only just setting, so it couldn’t be later than five. There was still time to get his galleons exchanged for muggle money, and then all he’d need wasa hotel to stay in. His magic needed a bit of time to regenerate first, though. Fifteen minutes or so.</p><p>He abruptly sat up, immediately alert, as he heard footsteps coming down the path, and he quickly retreated further between the buildings. <em>It’s fine</em>, he told himself; he had his wards, and no one would be looking for a seventeen year old on Christmas Eve.</p><p>The jumper on the figure, and the messy black hair, looked awfully familiar; but he’d been dreaming about James for weeks. He was imagining things.</p><p>He was definitely hallucinating, he decided, when the figure turned and looked directly at him, thick, dark lashes sparkling with tears, painfully hollow eyes sparking with emotion, wonderfully kissable lips whispering, “Reggie?”</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em>It’s Reggie.</em>
</p><p>Not Regulus, the death eater; no, the boy who sat huddled on the ground, looking at him with wide, grey eyes was Reggie. <em>His</em> Reggie.</p><p>“James?” James felt more tears spill down his face at Regulus’ voice; it was hollow, and a little water, but it was <em>his</em>. James’ heart ached when Regulus’ voice broke — it was the first real emotion he’d felt in weeks. </p><p>“What are you doing here?” James asked cautiously, sitting next to Regulus despite there <em>definitely</em> not being enough room for the two of them, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him into his side.</p><p>Reglus pressed himself into James side, his face squashed against James’ jumper. “I couldn’t do it, James. I was too much of a coward to even do that.”</p><p>“Shh, shh, Reggie, you’re here now. It’s fine. You’re not a coward; you did what was right.”</p><p>“Not because it was <em>right</em>, because I was too afraid to do what was <em>wrong</em>.”</p><p>“Reggie?”</p><p>Regulus hummed, shaking slightly, refusing to look at James.</p><p>“Reggie, look at me.”</p><p>He awkwardly pulled back in the small space, his eyes slightly puffy as he looked up at James, tears still running down his cheeks. James carefully wiped away the tears from one side, and then the other, before speaking.</p><p>“It’s fine. At the end of the day, you’re here. You’re with me, and we can look after you. Everything is going to be fine. Now, do you want to go home?”</p><p>Regulus nodded nervously. James stood, before holding out a hand and hauling up Regulus from his seat. They didn’t let go the entire walk back, and James kept sneaking glances at Regulus out of the corner of his eye. </p><p>Regulus stopped in his tracks when James started to turn into his driveway, his hand slipping out of James’ grasp.</p><p>“Reggie? Y’alright?”</p><p>“I — I don’t know if I can do this.”</p><p>“You bloody well can, I’m not spending any more time pining after you. Your brother would <em>kill</em> me.”</p><p>“Merlin, Sirius is in there as well…what if he doesn’t want to speak to me?”</p><p>“He might be a <em>little</em> snippy, because he is a Black and therefore a drama queen.” James was glad to see the indignant look on Regulus’s face as he continued, “No, don’t look at me like that, you <em>know</em> it’s true.”</p><p>Regulus sighed, and allowed himself to be pulled up the driveway by James, who couldn’t keep the grin off his face. He saw that the Marauders hadn’t moved from the living room, and marched in, dragging an increasingly pale Regulus behind him.</p><p>“Y’alright there, Prongs? You sound a bit —<em> is that my brother? </em>” Sirius had turned halfway through speaking and abruptly fell off Remus’ lap at the sight of Regulus. He scrambled to his feet, and the two brothers stared at each other from across the room, tension building by the second. James took a step backwards to stand beside Regulus, while Remus reached out to hold Sirius’ hand.</p><p>“Nice to see you, Regulus. Want some chocolate?” Peter said, holding out a half eaten chocolate bar in an attempt to cut the tension. Everyone ignored him, except Remus, who took the proffered bar, to Peter’s dismay.</p><p>“Hi, Sirius.” Regulus sounded even smaller, even quieter, than he had in the little alleyway. </p><p>“You didn’t go through with it?” Sirius asked, not blinking, not moving, as if it would scare Regulus away.</p><p>“It was supposed to be tomorrow, but I — no,” he answered quietly, “I couldn’t go through with it.”</p><p>Sirius leapt across the room, flinging himself onto Regulus and wrapping his arms around his younger brother. “I’m so glad you came home,” he whispered, just loud enough for James to hear.</p><p>James smiled at the sight, glad to see that everything would be okay. They were <em> home.<br/>
</em></p>
<hr/><p>Regulus woke up on Christmas morning with the limbs belonging to James Potter wrapped around him. He burrowed a little more under the duvet, breathing in James’ scent as he nuzzled his neck.</p><p>He couldn’t believe how easily he’d been accepted into the family; Mr and Mrs Potter had simply smiled at the sight of him, wordlessly setting another place at the table. </p><p>“Reggie, it’s Christmas!” James said, squeezing him before trying to roll out of bed. <em> Try </em>, because Regulus had wrapped himself around James as much as James had wrapped himself around him, and had no intentions of letting go.</p><p>“It’s too early to be Christmas.” Regulus mumbled into James’ shirt.</p><p>“”Nope. Come on, presents.”</p><p>“James, you’re <em>eighteen</em>. You can wait five minutes for presents.”</p><p>“Not at all. Come on.” And with that, James kicked back the duvet and scooped up Regulus, ignoring his whining as he carried him to the living room.</p><p>He dumped Regulus on the sofa, and sent his patronus to yell at Sirius and Remus. They arrived a couple of minutes later, looking positively murderous.</p><p>“James, we are <em>not</em> morning people. Look, Regulus is falling asleep on your shoulder!”</p><p>James rolled his eyes at Remus, and threw a bar of chocolate at him. Remus easily caught it, looked at it and shrugged, flopping down on the opposite sofa. Sirius curled up in his lap, closing his eyes, and immediately fell off as James shot a jinx at him.</p><p>“Now is not the time for <em>sleeping</em>, Padfoot; it’s Christmas!”</p><p>“Moony, why didn’t we just stay at Hogwarts this Christmas?”</p><p>Remus glanced wearily at James, who was enthusiastically sorting the presents into piles. “I don’t know, Pads.”</p><p>Regulus looked on from his seat on the sofa, amused. Somehow, there were still presents for him; despite the pile being quite a bit smaller than the other four (Peter would probably be over within an hour, according to James), it was bigger than any he’d ever received in the Black house. </p><p>In fact, he’d felt more welcome in twelve hours of being in the Potter household than years in his old home.</p><p>“Having an epiphany, brother?” Sirius asked, opening a gift to show a pair of fluffy socks.</p><p>“Maybe.” Regulus smiled softly, gazing at James, who’s face was lit up with a brilliant smile. Regardless of what had led him to it, he’d definitely made the right decision.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you enjoyed it! I’ve been having a bit of a block with I’d Always Choose You, so I’ve been writing this in the meantime :)</p><p>I can be found on tumblr and instagram at Huffinglepuff; my requests are not currently open because I have quite a few, but am always up for a chat! </p><p>Comments and kudos (and comments) are always appreciated &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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